


Atonement

by SquidSoup



Category: Persona 2
Genre: F/F, Gen, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 12:17:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8102131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquidSoup/pseuds/SquidSoup
Summary: Maya doesn't die. The world sees the night and a new day come. Everyone carries on with their lives, one way or the other. (AU where Innocent Sin doesn't end how it ends and everyone picks up the pieces of themselves afterwards.)





	1. Night time

The stars aligned for the Grand Cross one last time, and the battle was over. Nyarlatothep screamed with a flash of light covering everything, until the group found themselves in the red and gold realm once again. The Crawling Chaos assumed back the image of Akinari Kashihara; as if the fight had never started; and smirked, as they said something about a bet with Philemon.

Lisa demanded for an explanation, and Philemon told the entire truth. They wore a mask with only one fourth of their face uncovered, but everyone could see how cold their expression was, just as their voice.

“All of this... Everything was set up by you two?”

Maya felt her insides burn. This entire mess, all the suffering and deaths and destruction, everything she and her friends fought for was nothing but a game to the gods. And she supposed that yes, seeing humans as their chess pieces was logical, but she didn’t felt anywhere near logical right then and now. She didn’t care that Philemon was a mere observer while Nyarlatothep was the one pulling the strings: she would not forgive them for not speaking up and letting everyone run like headless chickens for years (probably eons if this was an usual thing they did during the course of history.)

Artemis screamed about danger, and Maya turned to see someone manifesting in sparkles of light behind her, when suddenly she saw a tornado, a sun, a mountain, an ocean, and got knocked back to the floor as the person screamed.

She saw Chronos, Apollo, Venus and Hades standing above their users, the words “Divine love” resonating with their voices as Maya Okamura was shaking, unable to move.

Tatsuya rushed to Maya’s side and held her, while Lisa and Eikichi restrained the teacher by the arms and Jun picked off the ground a spear much like the ones they fought before. Except this one looked different, felt different.

And Maya realized she was shaking and holding her abdomen. She put her hands inside her shirt in a panic, and couldn’t find a wound, yet she was scared. Tatsuya held her firmly with Apollo standing over them, but he looked scared and shaken too, and so did the other three. If their Personas hadn’t subconsciously reacted instantly and used a new fused spell in a rush to save her, she would have died.

“What’s the meaning of this!? You, what did you just do!?”

Jun’s screams did not meet an answer; instead Nyarlatothep scoffed and shook their head.

“Looks like I’ve ran out of dirty tricks. You win this one, Philemon. The self suffused with divine love, huh.” They turned their gaze to the party “As long as humanity exists, so will the both of us. I will return, and whether you meet me again or not... That, we’ll see. Farewell, my children.”

And so they disappeared leaving a crushing feeling of defeat in the air. The world had been saved for now, but had Nyarlatothep really been stopped? They wouldn’t pay for everything they did, and maybe it was foolish to think that mere humans would truly punish a god. Jun almost threw the cursed lance to the floor, but Philemon made it disappear in a flash of light, leaving the boy to violently swing at the empty air.

“Now, thanks to your efforts, reality will go back to normal. Rumors will no longer come true, and everyone affected by past rumors will return, including shadow people, and the effects of your crimes as well.”

Philemon sent off Okamura and took out their mask. Everyone saw their own face reflected under it. Everyone except Maya, who would not face the god.

“Philemon, is everything really over?”

“It will never be over, as long as humanity exists. however-“

“Then just send us back home. I don’t want to be here any longer.”

The expression on the five faces Philemon wore did not change. They nodded their head and raised their hand towards the group.

“Alright then. Farewell, and we will meet again, sooner or later, one way or the other.”

 

* * *

 

The classroom was empty save for the chairs and desks thrown around at the back. The faint sound of rain could be heard, but nobody was looking at the windows, and even if they did, it was night time. Everyone was sitting down around Maya and holding her hands until she finally stopped shaking. The lance didn’t reach her in time, but for as long as she lived she’d never forget the feeling of almost dying for the second time.

“I’m okay, everyone.” She lied, and nobody believed her, but Lisa hugged her and Jun started crying. Tatsuya fidgeted with his lighter, unsure what to do, and Eikichi was the only one to find words as he too teared up.

“I’m glad... I’m so glad you’re ok, Sis. Don’t scare Hades and the others like that again, will you?”

“I won’t!” she chuckled, and Artemis did too “Jun, what time is it?”

“It’s, uh, about nine? I can’t see through my tears...”

Maya slowly stood up with everyone’s help and checked her purse, asking them to do the same with their school bags.

“Yes... Yes, very good. Looks like we still have the money we made during our little adventure. Now, who’s hungry? It’s late and all but I think we all should go for a treat before tucking in, right?”

The four students looked at each other and then Lisa raised her hand.

“Hoh yi! Let’s go to Shiraishi Ramen! I know we promised to go to Clair De Lune after this, but they’ll take ages to serve us, and I’m starving!”

“I agree with Ginko, Ma’am’s the way to go, all the ways!”

“I haven’t had real ramen in years... What do you say, Tatsuya?”

Tatsuya nodded and smiled, he didn’t care as long as he could eat something that didn’t come from Satomi Tadashi. Even a cake would be fine.

Maya clapped her hands together “It’s decided then, to Hirakasa we go! Just let me call Yukki, since we wouldn’t be here without her. Anna can come too if she wants, though for anyone else we’ll need a second table.”

 

* * *

 

The night passed by quickly with the six of them chatting. Yukino came, but she explained that as soon as things were suddenly back to normal, Anna had ran off saying she had something to do. Tatsuya understood what that meant, but he kept it to himself. Later he’d ask how it went, and wished good luck to his friend.

Smiles and laughs were shared plenty, some moments were quiet until someone broke the silence with a joke, Maya slammed her glass of beer too hard on the table laughing when Tatsuya made an imitation of the Great Father’s dying noise. Nothing felt real, but for the first time in ten years the Masquerade truly felt like a friend group again.

Even when nobody else but them was still in the shop, Ma’am didn’t rush them out. What she was thinking was a mystery behind her sunglasses, but all she did was playfully tell them to scram when they were already at the door.

The rain had stopped hours ago and the wet pavement shined under the moonlight. It was time for everyone to go. Eikichi hugged everyone and ran to his place, afraid of his father but knowing he wasn’t alone.

Yukino decided to walk Lisa home to Rendegai after she made plans for Jun to come over to her house and sleepover on the weekend, and they went their way, kicking at imaginary demons in the streets.

Finally, Maya turned to the couple. “Jun, what are you planning to do? I don’t have a problem with you coming over again, and I’m sure Urara won’t care either. That is, if you don’t mind our snoring for the sixth time in a row!”

Jun looked at her, undecided. He wanted to, but he didn’t want to bother them anymore. He didn’t have a place to go so they let him stay over for the past few days, but he had inevitably cried on Maya’s arms every time, and he was certain that it would just make them eventually kick him out (or that’s what his mind told him in the voice of his mother.)

He felt Tatsuya’s hand on his shoulder and looked up at him. Tatsuya was staring at some point in the distance, avoiding both gazes upon him.

“If you want. You can come over to my place. My parents won’t care. Katsuya’s not going to be there. But you don’t have to.”

Jun looked back at Maya and saw her smile encouragingly.

“O-okay, let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Ma-ya! I knew you won and all because we went back to the ground again and shit, but where the fuck were you?”

“Sorry, sorry! I got too carried away with dinner after that crap, you won’t believe it.”

Maya took off her boots at the entrance. Urara saw her feet were covered in blisters, and she fidgeted with the half smoked cigarette on her hand. It was the fourth one since it started to become strangely late after she saw Maya off to fight some fuckshit elder god, and she hated to admit the possibility of her best friend dying being more complicated on her feelings than just simple grief.

She stood still on the entrance as Maya plopped down on her bed, and approached it when she saw her turn to look at the ceiling. Maya’s left hand was holding the right side of her abdomen and the air felt heavy.

“What’s wrong, Ma-ya? Are you injured?”

“I almost died.”

“Huh!? Are you alright!? Who did it, Ma-ya!?”

She heard the events from her friend and feelings of guilt fell on her chest like a rock. She should have gone with her, but something held her back. Maya had never asked her to come, and knowing her she would have probably said it was something to settle personally, but if Maya had really been gutted to death in some hellish dimension at the hands of a conspiracy theorist, what would Urara have done? Would she have approached those kids with her and lead them to revenge?

She felt Callisto push her, and when she realized it she saw Maya had fallen asleep, yet her cheeks had tear trails. Urara sat down and held her hand.

“I guess I should do a bit more to protect you, silly.”

 

* * *

 

 

As Tatsuya had said, Katsuya was not there, and neither were his parents. Jun didn’t ask. The entire house was dark, but Tatsuya (Apollo?) gave off a subtle glow that helped. Not that Tatsuya didn’t slam his foot against a door and cursed severely on the way to his room.

They didn’t really bother to take off anything but their school jackets before settling down in bed. The room was messy and smelled of deodorant with obnoxious advertising targeted to teenage boys. The bed remained undone as Tatsuya was warm enough for the two of them, and they laid facing each other, holding hands.

The silence was comfortable, only with their breathing and the soft return of the rain filling it. They were tired, but didn’t fall asleep, instead enjoying their shared peace. It wouldn’t be common to feel this peaceful every night, and they knew it.

“I was here once before, ten years ago... My parents came to pick me up from the shrine once, they came together because there was some important thing to attend to but they were fighting as usual. So I just ran off, crying, and you came after me and held me until Big Sis came to tell us if I wanted to spend the night at your place, your brother proposed it.”

Tatsuya remembered. The memories of the good times had been coming back after the bad ones since Jun returned to being himself, but he wanted to hear them from him anyways. Sharing them meant that he now remembered the truth, and not the fakes meant to turn them against each other, so Tatsuya would listen forever to Jun talk about things they both knew well.

“...And we wanted to stay up all night like the kids we were, talking under the covers about the latest Featherman episode, and to plan a prank on your brother in the morning, but we were small and fell asleep soon... Holding hands, like this.” He pointed at their joined hands with his head and looked up to Tatsuya’s smile, and ten realize he himself was smiling widely, something he forgot he could do.

Tatsuya pulled him closer and kissed his forehead, then the rest of his face, and his hand, and Jun returned each and every one. They said “I love you” and cried a little and fell asleep wrapped on each other.

Around nine in the morning Jun picked up his shoes and left through the window, trying not to make a sound. He had made sure to get the direction to her house the second time he saw her, and though he was bitter, he hoped Tatsuya would understand. The note he left on his desk should be self-explanatory. He wanted to meet him again after a particular couple of things he had to do to be at peace with himself. And so Jun Kurosu walked in the cold morning towards Maki Sonomura’s house.


	2. Noon

“Very well, Jun” she said, taking a seat “Where should we start?”

They were sitting in the dining table of the small apartment Maki and her mother had moved in some months prior. It was modest, and a bit too small for her paintings, but there was a couch, and that was enough for Jun. When they first met he felt something from her, and she looked at him as if she was saying “I understand.”

When he went with the rest of his friends to see how Yukino and Anna were doing, he asked her about this girl with the wise eyes, and heard the story from three years before. A story about three girls who were one and the same and the truth behind the events of Mikage-cho. But before the ending, Yukino told him to ask Maki herself for the entire tale, and so when they passed by Sevens he asked her for her time to talk when everything was over.

And so the two of them met as promised, the morning sun shining through the windows, and he listened to Maki’s story from the protagonist herself. She talked about her childhood, the hospital’s loneliness, her ideal world, Takahisa Kandori both as a loving father and a cruel monster, Pandora. And she talked about her friends.

She talked about most things with a fond nostalgia, even things like her fake school days at the ideal world felt dear to her in a way. And her fist gripped her coffee mug with hateful strength when talking about Kandori. And above all, she spoke highly of each and every one of her friends who not only helped her break free, but stayed with her afterwards.

She had lost contact with most of them as everyone followed a different path, but postcards (real and virtual) came from Masao on the regular, Reiji tried selling her a knife set at the door until he realized who she was, and she met with Eriko every time the two of them could. In a way, she had become closer to her after everyone else started to drift apart.

“Listen, Jun. You have to pick yourself up, face yourself, own up to your shit and everything. But you also have to let your friends help you and let them be closer, even when it’s hard to let them in. Let them be your strength too. But, I suppose they won’t give up on you unless they die, I trust Yukino’s word on that.”

Then came his time to talk. He stumbled on what to say, at first, but Maki was patient and let him take his time. He told her about the Masquerade, first of all. Of when he met his three best friends, and when they all met Maya one clear summer afternoon. And then he gripped his clothes when talking about his parents. He could barely remember his real father, or maybe he was trying not to, and the thought of his mother gave him grief.

And he talked of his fake father, and now that he thought about it, he had no idea exactly what made him look cool in his eyes. He just felt drawn to the entity and listened to his every word. Things became a blur after that, and in the following ten years the only thing he clearly remembered was pain, and desperate attempts of trying to earn his mother’s acknowledgement, probably to replace Maya’s place in his heart.

Jun struggled to talk about being Joker, partially from still having mangled memories from that time, partially from guilt and self-deprecation. But he made it through, and once again talked about his friends, greeting him with tears and smiles at the same time. “I don’t deserve this” was his first thought. “I love you all” was his second.

It was about noon when both decided it was enough talk for the moment. There was still so much to converse and share, but for now they understood each other. As much as they had their friends, nobody else could quite understand them. And that was fine, but having someone who _understood_ their shared joys and pains and fears was not something they could put into words.

Maki got up and walked towards a cabinet in the room, opening it and revealing a photograph of Kandori. It was somewhat torn apart, and pierced all over, but still recognizable.

“Your feelings are valid. If you hate someone who wronged you, let it out, even if it’s... silly, like this” she threw a dart at the photograph with impressive accuracy. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, but your anger is real, and you can ultimately channel it on ways that won’t hurt you or others who don’t deserve it.”

She played with another dart, looking at the boy look at the picture, with a thoughtful look on his face. She remembered when her mother first did what they were doing right now. Sometimes Setsuko Sonomura would join her daughter, but nowadays it was mostly Maki doing the dart throwing, with techniques learnt from Yukino.

“Well, I would but... do you have any entertainment magazine at hand? I can go buy one, though I doubt I can get a photo of my father unless someone at Sevens kept one, but-“

“Way ahead of you” she smiled, picking up dusty magazine cutouts from a higher point of the cabinet. “Elly got me this edition from when you were born; both of your parents are on it. You too, but you were a baby so I cropped you out of the picture. It’s not your fault your parents were who they were.”

He nodded and picked up a dart while Maki took down Kandori’s face and taped up Akinari Kashihara and Junko Kurosu on its place. It felt heavier than a flower, but that wasn’t a problem. Instead, he stood in place, taking deep breaths and trying to concentrate into actually throwing it. His hands started shaking, and the rest of his body followed soon. Hating was so easy and difficult at the same time.

And then the dart was in the air.

* * *

For the first time, Eikichi’s friends saw him cry. Not that he wasn’t emotional, but he tried to keep at least that expression out of their sight, least he showed weakness. And now he knew it was okay to be weak with your friends, and through that they’d become stronger.

“Ken! Shogo! Takeshi! I’m sorry I made you perform the charm! Because of me, the three of you were... ugh!”

The three boys looked at each other, Ken took the lead.

“Michel, you didn’t believe Joker existed, and even then you didn’t know this could have happened... We were as shocked as you and didn’t even think of telling him our dreams. We didn’t think he would appear, the only one at fault is him.”

Eikichi wiped away his tears and smiled in a way his friends had never seen before either.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But at least you’re all ok, guys? I didn’t have time to check on you when things went back to normal, but...”

Shogo waved his hand reassuringly. The three of them had woken up at the abandoned prison; where the four of them were standing right now; and while shaken from being suddenly thrown into existence again, they could somehow feel that their leader had something to do with it.

“When we realized we were, uh, alive, we ran to our homes. I went to sleep as soon as I could, but it was like I had just woken up from a nightmare, and the three of us agree. We’ll have to catch up on what happened since everything started though, what’s that about a spaceship?”

Truly, things had gone back to normal faster than Eikichi had expected. He thought things would be a mess, especially with how chaotic the last part of his adventure turned out, but aside from the media roaring and tons of outsiders coming to the city, the townsfolk seemed to take it with the same attitude they took when things were escalating. He didn’t know what to make of it, but it was probably the best possible outcome.

After filling in his friends with the main events of the days they spent shadowed, Eikichi Mishina decided to get to the second point that got him there that day.

“Everyone, these are shocking news but I have to announce the disbandment of Gas Chamber.” Everyone looked at him like he was joking, but his eyes were serious. “I know the three of you didn’t really want to be there and just did it for my sake, so I convinced that Suou guy from Sevens to play the guitars for me, as you wanted to, and we got another guy for the keyboards, I’ll introduce you later!”

Takeshi hadn’t said a word the whole time, and now he stepped up.

“To tell the truth, I wanted to focus on my studies so I could go to college, but didn’t want to disappoint you... But... But even though I don’t want to be in a band with you, I like hanging out with you guys, I don’t want that to stop!”

“What are you saying? We won’t! We’re still friends!” Eikichi wrapped an arm around him “We’re just all trying to pursue our dreams, but I don’t see why they can’t coexist with each other. A really nice lady taught me that. I just expect the three of you to be there for Michel’s new and improved band, Hades And The Burning Flowers, on it’s opening night!”

“And what about a drummer? You didn’t mention one.”

“We’ll figure it out!”

* * *

Peace Dinner was less populated than usual, enough for its sole counter attendant to pay attention to the music video on the tv. She attributed it to most people taking advantage of Sumaru’s spotlight on the world media, what with the whole taking flight off the ground for a couple of days. If anything, she was grateful for the ease of the workload, and suddenly speaking was much easier than before, so she really didn’t feel anything to complain about.

Another tv was playing the same music channel on the upstairs level of the restaurant, the soft volume providing the only background noise for the reunion.

Mami and Miho were sitting in front of Lisa as usual, but the wall that she used to put between them was no longer there. Instead, she was holding their hands across the table, making sure they were real and alive and not a dream. After her friends became shadows, Lisa saw them in her nightmares, calling out her name, calling her out in her mistakes. And now they were in front of her, forgiving her.

“Asacchi... Meeho... I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed your feelings were a certain way without proof. I... I was scared to get close to you just to then watch you leave, or, or I don’t know, I was so bent in not getting hurt that I never thought I was hurting you.”

“Lisa...” Mami started crying. She always knew there was a gap between them, but still went along with her in hopes she’d come to trust her and Miho one day. And it hurt, but everything was turning out alright in the end, and she wanted to hope.

“We shouldn’t have pushed you either” intervened Miho “Everything was a huge misunderstanding, can we forgive each other? And that Sasaki creep toyed with all of us too! You wouldn’t believe how Mami was crying when we woke up at the cybercafé, she was worried about you and-!”

“You were crying too, Meeho! But we knew that you were the one to free us, somehow. It’s as if our hearts were linked, or something.”

The three of them laughed and wiped away their tears. They proceeded to talk about their plans for the future, about music and school and about how silly the Joker song was in retrospective. Mami and Miho dented the wall, and Lisa smashed it with her fists to find them waiting for her from the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wasn't as gay as I wanted to, but it's a simple setup for gayer things soon, it's a promise.
> 
> Fanfics let you live your wildest fantasies, for instance, I too want to throw darts at a picture of my parents.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I can't really tell if this has a plot or not. I really just want to write about the aftermath of IS's storyline, had things ended better. I want to write about a lot of characters and situations, but I don't have a definite end in sight. I'll just try to follow the main party and the rest of the characters closest to them, and some other people because why not. 
> 
> If there's any suggestions, corrections, critiques or anything, please let me know! I've written oneshots, but this is the first time in my life I write a story with chapters, so I have no idea what I'm doing. I hope you enjoy it regardeless!


End file.
